Class Notes - 1960s

1960

Karen Wisecup Rich ’60 spent more than eight months at sea in 2004 as program director for a major cruise line. She now pursues her cruise industry interests from dry land while she checks out real estate growth in her adopted state of Arizona.

1961

Bob O’Rourke JD ’61 is an attorney with Corey, Byler, Rew, Lorenzen & Hojem in Pendleton. 

Barbara McKay Simmonds ’61 has spent the past 22 years helping people recover from trauma as a psychotherapist, counselor, and Reiki practitioner/master. Last year, she expanded her private practice in Minneapolis to include personal life coaching. She is also an active Quaker.

1962

Bob Cantin ’62 is project coordinator for the Solheim Cup, a women’s golf competition that pits the top European-born players from the Ladies European Tour against the top U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Cantin, who served as the event’s communication director for 20 years, recently edited The Solheim Cup: Pro Golf’s Most Prestigious Ladies Team Championship.

1964

James Kawashima ’64 was commissioner for the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and Arts before becoming commissioner for the Hawaii State Judicial Selection Commission. He and his wife, Melvia, have two children.

1966

John Venator ’66 and his wife, Dorianne, look forward to retirement in 2009. In the meantime, they are remodeling their more than 400-year-old hacienda-style home in Valladolid, Mexico. Visit Casa De Los Venados to monitor their progress (but only if your favorite TV show is This Old House).

1967

Peter George ’67 has managed Oak Tree Restaurant in Woodland, Washington, since 1969. He was recently named Citizen of the Year by the Woodland Chamber of Commerce.

1969

Susan Crowell ’69, MAT ’70 started a counseling service with a colleague in Tahuya, Washington. Tutoring Systems Northwest offers low-cost services for kids with study skills and behavior problems.

Steve Fujihara ’69 traded his teaching career for medicine. He has been an anesthesiologist since 1983. His outside interests include Christianity, music, and Impressionist paintings (as well as the works of post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh). He still says “Lambdas rule!”

Janet Peterson ’69, who started her dentistry career in 1983, was the first female dentist in Benton County. In 2004, she became the first woman president of the Oregon Dental Association.

Bill Rauch ’69, president of the Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation, is working with internationally acclaimed landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu to build an 11,250-square-foot garden at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

Jo Ann Staebler ’69, who received her master’s degree in 1970 from the University of Michigan, lived in Ann Arbor for 10 years working on a research project about the American Revolution. She married in 1978, moved to Virginia, and had two children. As founder of the Pied Piper Theatre, she produced children’s musicals for five years. In 2003, she received a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. Her daughter, Joanna Staebler-Kimmel ’03, lives in the Seattle area; her son, Joel, attends Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina.